Family Guy Turns 25

Amazing, isn't it? Today, Family Guy celebrates 25 years.

The date was Sunday, January 31, 1999. Super Bowl Sunday. Fox aired Super Bowl XXXIII, the network's second-ever Super Bowl broadcast, and that year, it was the Denver Broncos defeating the Atlanta Falcons to repeat as champions of the National Football League, while also bringing a storybook ending to the iconic career of John Elway. After one career ended on a high note, another show--another era--began.

After Fox's coverage of the Super Bowl, the network aired the very first episode of Family Guy, with the series centering on the Griffin family: husband and wife Peter and Lois, children Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and the family's walking and talking dog, Brian. The first episode was titled, "Death Has a Shadow," and in it, Peter gets drunk at the stag party and loses his job. So what does he do? He commits welfare fraud, because of course he does. The very first of an immensely lengthy list of hilariously dumb schemes that he would commit in this series.

Now, within the first few minutes, I was in love with this show. From that point, I noticed that Fox was really building a collection of animated shows. They already had The Simpsons, which had been on Fox for a decade at the time, and King of the Hill was still in its infancy.

So, who do we have to thank for this phenomenon?

The man, the myth, the icon. Seth MacFarlane is the genius we should thank for giving us this epic show, among many, many other amazing things he's given us over the years. When I first heard the name Seth MacFarlane, it was on Johnny Bravo, as he was one of the show's many writers on the Cartoon Network series. I would later see another project of his: a short cartoon titled Larry & Steve, which actually served as a precursor of sorts to Family Guy.

My memories of the first few seasons are vague, and there is definitely a reason for that. I do know this, the show moved around quite a bit during the first few seasons, but they did have its moments. Some examples: Peter's experience with the Grim Reaper (voiced by the late, great Norm MacDonald), the first of the series' several "Road to" episodes centering on Brian and Stewie, Peter finding out that he has a Black ancestor, you name it. I said my memories of those first three seasons are vague, and the reasons for that: Fox abruptly canceled the show.

So, the plug was pulled on them in a very abrupt manner. The show was deemed as "crude" and "unfunny." Then a funny thing happened: the DVDs were selling like hotcakes.

The entire series (as we knew it at the time) was released in separate box sets back in 2004. Volume One consisted of the show's first two seasons, while Volume Two consisted of the entire third season. Again, the sets were selling like hotcakes, and at that same time, Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" lineup aired the episodes, including the controversial "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" episode that was part of the Volume Two set. A lot of people watched the reruns as well. So because of all of this, Fox had no choice but to capitalize on this and bring back the show they thought was "crude" and "unfunny." Though, the militant uber-fan in me still likes to say that the powers that be at Fox were on their hands and knees begging Seth to return.

After all, Seth had something else in his arsenal.

At the time, Seth MacFarlane already had another animated show premiering on Fox: American Dad!. That show, similar to Family Guy, had the Super Bowl debut, airing after Fox's coverage of Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005. On May 1, 2005, Family Guy returned for the first time in 2.5 years with the episode, "North by North Quahog." To this day, I still love how the episode began: Peter gave the bad news that they had been cancelled by Fox, and then he listed pretty much every Fox show that aired between 2002-2005, all of which didn't last too long (though I did watch some of them). The cold open ended with Peter saying that if all of them got cancelled, they'd have a shot.

Since that date, Family Guy has aired on Sunday nights as part of Fox's "Animation Domination." For the most part, the show was on the 9PM slot, and for over a decade, it was that show and American Dad! airing back-to-back in the final hour of Fox's Sunday night lineup. Despite the show returning, the criticism towards the show seemed to increase, and this fan wasn't having it. People were still calling the show "unfunny," and it's being accused of "copying The Simpsons." Like that's the only animated primetime show that aired after The Simpsons. Child, please. And do not get me started on the severe lack of Emmy consideration. It reached a point where the show itself pretty much mocked themselves for not having Emmys, but even so, they should have won so many Emmys. Hell, the cutaways are better than 75% of the stuff that's on TV.

As for the voice cast, creator Seth MacFarlane has a lot of characters, but his main ones are Peter, Brian, Stewie, and Glenn Quagmire. Alex Borstein (who was part of the cast of MAD TV at the time) voiced Lois Griffin, and a few other characters. Seth Green (Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) voiced Chris Griffin, and regarding Meg Griffin, she was originally voiced by Lacey Chabert for the first season, but since 2000, Mila Kunis has provided Meg's voice. Mike Henry, a longtime staff writer on the show, voiced several characters, including Cleveland Brown, only to depart from that role in 2020. Since then, Arif Zahir has voiced Cleveland. Patrick Warburton (aka David Puddy from Seinfeld) provided the voice of Joe Swanson, while his wife, Bonnie, is voiced by Jennifer Tilly (Tiffany from the Chucky overall series).

The late, great Adam West also played on the series as the mayor of Quahog. After West passed away in 2017, the city received a new mayor: Wild West, voiced by Sam Elliott. The series did spawn a spinoff, The Cleveland Show, centering on Cleveland Brown and only lasting four seasons between 2009-2013.

Of course, I have to mention this:

After 15 years of co-existing, the two worlds finally collided on September 28, 2014, when Family Guy's 13th season kicked off with the famous crossover with The Simpsons, titled "The Simpsons Guy." This was so many years in the making, and honestly, not only was this episode epic and hilarious, but it squashed this long, drawn-out belief that there was a rivalry between the two landmark shows. If there was a rivalry, it was one based on mutual respect. We heard this in the climax, we heard Peter voice his immense respect for Homer Simpson. Yes, Family Guy does portray themselves as having a "little brother complex," if you will, but they have fun with it. They know that The Simpsons is that measuring stick. They're just happy keeping up with them.

25 years. I can't believe it. That show has survived so much. It was actually cancelled twice during that three year run, but it was brought back and funnier than ever. Since Family Guy's return, Seth MacFarlane has built an empire: American Dad!, The Cleveland Show, The Orville, the Ted movies and TV series, and another movie of his, A Million Ways to Die in the West. What an amazing run, and I've enjoyed very bit of it!

Happy 25th anniversary, Family Guy! And give that show an Emmy already!